Far-right leagues
The far-right leagues (
Cartel des gauches, i.e. the center-left coalition government led by Édouard Daladier.[1]
For a long time, the French left wing had been convinced that these riots had been an attempted Radical-Socialist government, this widespread belief led to the creation of the anti-fascist movement in France, and later to the dissolving of these leagues in 1936 by the leftist Popular Front government headed by Léon Blum.
Debate on "French Fascism"
The debate on a "French Fascism" is closely related to the existence of these anti-parliamentary leagues, of which many adopted at least the exterior signs and rituals of fascism (
Stresa front in 1935.[2] Thus, the French far-right was split between Italian fascism, Nazism and nationalism, which forbade them from allying themselves with Hitler and pushed towards an alliance with Mussolini. Individual trajectories during Vichy France, when some far-right members ultimately chose the Resistance
against the German occupant, illustrate these ideological conflicts.
Leagues created in the 1920s from
Francisme were both founded in 1933, during Édouard Daladier's left-wing government. Daladier was replaced after the 6 February 1934 riots by conservative Gaston Doumergue, who included in his cabinet many right wing personalities close to the far-right leagues, such as Philippe Pétain
and Pierre Laval.
Most of the debate on the existence of a "French fascism" in between the two wars period has focused on these
Parti Social Français (PSF, the first French mass party of the right-wing, which would be later imitated by Gaullism[3]
), has often been said not to be fascist, an assertion which based itself in particular on his respect for constitutional legality during 6 February 1934 riots. Others observers argue that both Fascism and Nazism formally respected legality, and that this factor, in itself, does not sufficiently set de la Rocque's movement aside from other types of fascism.
Significant leagues
Far-right leagues in France were characterized by their
anti-Communist opinions. In addition – and in particular in the 1930s – they were often modelled after Benito Mussolini's paramilitary Blackshirts
and favored military parades, uniforms, and displays of their physical might.
The most famous far-right leagues included:
- Dreyfus Affairand finally dissolved soon afterwards)
- Antisemitic League of France (Ligue antisémitique de France) led by Édouard Drumont (founded in 1889, disappeared before World War I)
- King's Camelots (Camelots du Roi), founded in 1908. Youth organization of the far-right royalist Action Française movement, which was involved in the February 1934 riots.
- executive power and with the officially proclaimed aims of "defending institutions from the left wing", the Young Patriots adopted ceremonial signs popularised by fascists (such as the Roman salute) but conserved, on the whole, a reactionaryprogram distinct from fascism.
- Peasant Defense (Défense Paysanne), also known as Green Shirts (Chemises Vertes)
- Peasant Front (Front Paysan), founded by Henry Dorgères
- Frontisme, founded by Gaston Bergery.
- national-socialist ideology. It reached its peak in 1926, with 25,000 members of "Blue Shirts" (modelled after the Blackshirts in Italy), before dissolving due to internal disputes.[4]
- Parti Social Français (1936–40). During World War II, La Rocque used his party as an intelligence resistance network linked with the British intelligence. It paved the way to Gaullism.
- French Solidarity (Solidarité Française), founded in 1933 by perfume businessman François Coty (1874–1934).
- collaboratorswith the Nazis.
Dissolution of the leagues
This context of street agitation led
right of association (resulting from the 1901 law on associations) if these groups organized armed demonstrations in the streets, if they presented a paramilitary or militia aspect or if they attempted to overthrow the Republic or threatened the integrity of the national territory.[6] The 10 January 1936 law was however only partially implemented, and only the monarchist Action Française was dissolved as a result of the law, on 13 February 1936.[7]
The Popular Front thus included the dissolution of the leagues in its 12 January 1936 electoral program. This proposition was implemented after the May 1936 election which brought Léon Blum to power. Marceau Pivert publicly called for the dissolution of the leagues on 27 May 1936 in the newspaper Le Populaire.[8]
On 19 June 1936,
Parti Social Français (PSF).[7] Salengro's initiative led the far-right newspaper Gringoire (which at the time had a circulation of 500,000 issues per week) to initiate a defamation campaign against him, which finally drove him to commit suicide on 18 November 1936.[9]
See also
- Revanchism
- Dreyfus Affair
- Both Cartel des gauches(1924–26, and 1932–34)
- 6 February 1934 crisis marked by riots organized by far-right leagues
- History of far-right movements in France
- Non-conformists of the 1930s
- Freikorps – similar right-wing paramilitary movements in Weimar Germany
- Uyoku dantai – similar phenomenon in post-war Japan
References
- ^ William D. Irvine. French Conservatism in Crisis: The Republican Federation of France in the 1930s (1979) pp. 98–126. [ISBN missing]
- ^ See for example "Laval meets Mussolini in Rome" on 4 January 1935
- ^ See René Rémond's Les Droites en France, 1982, Aubier
- ^ Zeev Sternhell, « Anatomie d'un mouvement fasciste en France. Le Faisceau de Georges Valois », Revue française de science politique, vol. 26, n°1, février 1976, pp. 25–26. (in French)
- ^ a b Chronology Archived 2007-11-06 at the Wayback Machine on the website of the municipality of Athis-Mons (in French)
- French Senate(in French)
- ^ a b Cercle Jacques Decour (Chronology) Archived 2008-01-11 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
- ^ Marceau Pivert, Tout est possible!, 27 May 1936, Le Populaire (in French)
- ^ a b Biographical notice Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine of Roger Salengro, Radio France
Further reading
- Gooch, Robert K. (1927). "The Antiparliamentary Movement in France". American Political Science Review. 21 (3): 552–572.